Revelations
by Creative-Thinker
Summary: It's the small moments that can be the most significant. Life changing things happen and you don't even notice. KakaSaku Older Sakura
1. Without Even Knowing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

_**Note: This is not a one shot!**_

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_Chapter 1: Without Even Knowing_

Honestly _what_ they were doing in a joint like this, she had no idea. But, for once, it didn't seem like her boys were complaining; and that was more music to her ears than the thumping tunes making her eardrums rattle.

Of course, she was positive it had more to do with the gyrating, scantily clad females lining the walls and the dance floor than anything else.

_How_ they had made their way into this heated box of cigarette smoke, liquor, and sweat was entirely the fault of one Uzumaki Naruto; more precisely his utter ignorance of feminine seduction.

Why Lord Kumiko's precious teenage daughter chose Naruto of all people to fixate on was another question that deserved some serious pondering. Then again, even Sakura wasn't blind to the knowledge that the village idiot had turned into a tasty little morsel.

He was 22, tall, built, had the prettiest sky blue eyes and always seemed to have a killer tan year round. When it all came down to it, her ramen loving teammate was pretty damn hot. As long as he kept his big mouth shut, he was great eye-candy.

However, what the _married_, handsome stud lacked still remained the same: brains. When the two-faced evil little princess had asked him to accompany her out for a little fun on the town, the naïve brat hadn't thought twice about it. Their bodyguard mission was over of course and they would be returning to Konoha the next day.

Regardless, Naruto may have turned 22 that year, but the part of his brain that dealt with women and relationships remained 12. How he and Hinata had gotten married, much less how they had managed to have _relations_ was beyond her.

Thusly, Sakura had taken it upon her self to accompany the two-some to make sure the little dark haired harlot kept her hands to herself.

Hinata wasn't just Naruto's wife. She was a good friend and friends don't let their friends get molested by some rich floozy made up with one too many layers of makeup. Now do they?

No. They don't. So, naturally, Sakura had requested to tag along and being Naruto's friend and teammate, daddy's little girl couldn't decline.

Oh, and naturally, the kunoichi wasn't about to go alone. Really, the last Uchiha shouldn't have looked so surprise when she had bodily dragged him along behind them. Did he really think she was going to sit there and talk to herself however long Kumiko Tsuki had decided to keep them out?

That answer was an obvious no.

Unsurprisingly, the ex-brother-obsessed-traitor-turned reformee had submitted to her will in the end. No matter what cold things came out of her first love's mouth, she knew he had a great deal of guilt eating away at him for all the shit he put them through during the five long years of trying to get his stubborn ass back.

It really was a miracle that she had managed to save him. Why that idiot had provoked the Hokage-wanna-be into a deathmatch even after they had worked together to defeat Itachi in the first place…

If Naruto's shuriken resengan had been in full form…

Sakura shook those murderous thoughts away. The past was the past. Those memories were best kept there.

He was back and trying his damnedest to earn the trust of the village again. (It went without saying that he already had her's and Naruto's.)

Nonetheless, the dark haired young man to her right side was pointedly ignoring her to stare at more exciting happening on the dance floor -namely some unknown wench's shaking, fat rump. Suddenly, it felt to Sakura as if talking to herself wasn't such a bad idea after all.

As she turned to her other side, she sighed. That just left one other person at their back corner booth: Kakashi. The lackadaisical Copy Ninja had invited himself along with the guise of being the mature chaperone.

_Mature, yeah right. Chaperone my ass. _

Sakura wasn't buying that sorry excuse for a minute. Kakashi wasn't watching over anyone with his eye glued to every half-naked female that walked by.

The frustrated kunoichi groaned in disgust. _Stupid men! _

Speaking of sleazy women, it seemed one of them had managed to infiltrate their private area and even succeeded in hijacking the only partner she thought she had for the night while her thoughts had run away with her.

A petite fist hit the table, her eyes finding Sasuke sitting some spaces away chatting with an _older_ women!

_My god! Doesn't he have any shame? _

In her anger and irritation, she elbowed the side of the last remaining body at the table. "Can you _believe_ that? The nerve!"

If Sasuke hadn't of laid everything out on the table for her -upon his unforgettable return, she might have walked over there and punched the poor bastard through the wall. Alas, he _had_ and she now knew that she wasn't going to be the one to help restore his clan.

Even though it had been close to five years already the bitterness seemed to always creep up on her when the thought was made.

_Sister figure my ass _

Finally, prying his attention from a gaggle of young ladies near the bar -which Sakura found surprisingly to be around her _own_ age- Kakashi turned to her. "Didn't you come here to play operation keep away with Naruto and Tsuki-sama?" Nodding to the blonde, making a fool of himself on the dance floor with the octopus of a woman trying… but failing to get near him, Kakashi asked, "Why aren't _you_ out _there_?"

Sakura glared at the scene… and then glared at Kakashi...and then pouted in a little voice that was barely heard above the extremely loud music playing around them. "Can't dance."

Eyeing the offbeat steps that resembled a calf being born the kyuubi-container was doing, Kakashi joked. "I'm sure you cannot be any worse than _that_."

Sakura wrinkled her nose and continued to sulk. "I have my pride you know."

The older shinobi turned away from the laugh inspiring scene to the un-amused woman beside him, giving her a little eye-crease of a smile. "I guess that means you're stuck here with me then, eh?"

The saddened kunoichi looked at him skeptically. "What? You're not going to up and disappear on me too?"

Kakashi smiled again behind the mask while crossing his arms and leaning back on his piece of cushion next to her. "I don't have any plans at the moment." His eye scanning the dimly club, he teasingly picked out the first woman he saw. "Well, unless someone _like_ that finds her way over to me. Then you're on your own sister."

Sakura couldn't help the punch to his kidney. Really, he had that one coming. Slouching in her seat, sipping her drink through a straw, feeling like and closely resembling a kicked puppy she sniped, "Perverted old man."

Rubbing his battered side, Kakashi laughed, "Old? No. Perverted?" He made a play of thinking it over with a finger to his masked chin. "Possible."

Sakura laughed in spite of herself, holding up her pinky. "Promise you won't leave me?"

The Copy ninja looked at her pinky and sighed. Wrapping his gloved pinky around hers, he promised.

Sakura let his finger go feeling slightly better. At least this way she wouldn't appear too pathetic in her mind.

Kakashi hadn't lied. Sure there were lots of temptations within hands reach, but he knew also the three vices that were known to lead to shinobi downfall, that being: money, booze and _women_.

The 36 year old man wasn't still at the top of his game for nothing. An elite ninja could also have those things, but only in moderation. Besides, who was he to leave a beautiful kunoichi all alone by herself in this seedy den of wolves?

She may not have noticed, but the stares and whispered talk around them was easily caught by his keen senses.

He had seemingly ignored the once over she had received by the old men around them as the owner of the club had escorted them to their seats. He had also tried not to grind his teeth too much when the rough looking bouncer had personally searched her for more weapons than the bundle she had willingly handed over.

Kakashi was a male. He knew how these lecherous men thought.

There were many factors that lifted the unawares kunoichi above the throng of other women parading around them.

It had to do with the air of naivety around her and the silky, yet highly unusual pink hair. Also, judging from the blue and green jounin uniform –one that the three of them all happened to be sporting due to the fact that not one of them thought they would end up in such a place during their mission to the land of the Sun- she was a paid shinobi.

Men liked 'different' and they loved money and power. They were drawn to it like moths to a flame.

So, of course Kakashi felt it was only right if someone of his stature, who could chase away the unwanted flies, stayed by her side.

_It's for her own good_

He had to admit, it felt nice to know that he wouldn't be dealing with any foolhardy souls stupid enough to make an appearance. It seemed his vibe was working; it was an air of try and die.

The unmindful woman remained ignorant to these facts as she continued to glare at her two boys. At least she found some comfort in the fact that Naruto's exaggerated flailing kept Tsuki-sama out of his personal bubble. As for Sasuke…

Sakura tried not to notice one of the thawing man's rare smiles being directed at someone other than herself. Inner Sakura bristled.

_He's dead to me_

Head rolling back on the black vinyl cushion, she sighed in defeat. "I shouldn't have come." Looking down the tip of her nose, catching Naruto doing something she had once heard referred to as 'the robot', she ground her teeth. "I mean _look_ at that fool." Hanging her head to the side between her and Kakashi she moaned self-pityingly. "I should have known things would turn out this way."

She was so morose that the usual anger stayed dormant as a gloved hand destroyed her recently brushed hair.

"You should have more faith in your friends Sakura."

The tired female shinobi straightened with a sigh. "Yeah, I know." Mimicking the Copy Ninja's slouched relaxed state, Sakura leaned closer, her shoulder resting against his. Finally finding it within herself to enjoy Naruto's one man show, her lips twisted up into a smile. "Hey, Kakashi?"

Watching Naruto's sudden case of spasms, he grunted in response.

With actual meaning, the words slipped from her tongue like butter. "Thanks."

It was situations like these that made the older shinobi realize just how much these three had come to mean to him. Feeling nicely at ease from the strong glass of drink and easy atmosphere between himself and the nice smelling kunoichi, Kakashi murmured a low, "You're welcome."

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**Revelations – small moments in their life that are strung together to create my story **

So look forward to more because I'm already working out more material. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed.


	2. Singled Out

**Chapter 2: Singled Out**

The sound of seagulls shrieked in the sky as flocks of them beat their snow white wings in the almost windless air. Clear beams of light shown down between cottony wispy of clouds in the bluish sky, like lasers scorching the land below and anything unfortunate enough to be stuck in its rays.

It was hot. So, unbearably hot that the usual stench of fish and the smell of salt clung to a person's skin and clothes almost permanently.

There were two things that Haruno Sakura was definitely sure of. Her recent farmer's tan was only going to get worse and it was definitely summer. She was just glad that their mission was over.

Any bandits that decided to crawl out of their cave during this time of the year deserved to get their asses kicked in her book though; especially if they had forced her to be the one to do it. In the end, she had felt like an entire bucket could have been filled with as much sweat that had drenched her clothes.

_Sorry bastards._ Sakura thought it over. _Although… a cool prison cell sounds kind of good…_

The temperature had reached all new heights just that morning. Besides, the atmosphere of the small fishing village -they were actually sent to protect- couldn't help but make one feel like one of those dried noodles usually stuck to Naruto's face: disgusting, sticky and unmoving.

Sakura sighed as she imitated an ant held under a magnified glass.

_It's so hoooooooot…_

How these people managed to scratch up enough money to afford herself and her three companions was beyond her. Just by looking at the state of the shabby dwellings that housed absolutely no electricity, it boggled the mind. How did these people survive without air-conditioning or even a single fan for cripes sake!

Then again, that wasn't the only thing _odd_ about that particular fishing village.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the yellow shorts wearing fool -who had tied the bottom of his white tank top under his _imaginary_ bosom- sitting near her.

"Catch any fish yet?" She drawled.

The 21 year old male, Nata-kun, smacked his lips in contempt. "Nothing yet, but don't you go thinking I'm giving up, you hear."

"Sure, sure."

Leaning back with her elbows against the sun-baked dock, bare feet swaying in the warmed sea, Sakura sighed as her head tilted back. Eyes closed against the brilliant light of the day, perspiration continued to dampen her hair, flushed skin, and almost suffocating jounin uniform. Her abandoned sandals and jounin vest rested beside her, in-between herself and their client's otherwise occupied eldest son.

He wasn't exactly trolling for _fish_…more like unfairly handsome Uchihas…that happened to be occupying the water nearby.

A smile formed on her utterly sunburned face as a small chuckle rumbled in her chest beneath the soaked –thankfully- short sleeved dark blue shirt. Again, she was wondering why she kept forgetting to pack regular clothes in her small bag, then remembered how small her bag actually was and quickly let that thought go.

Her eyes watched a wave carry the dark haired 'jellyfish' further away from his spot floating in the sea a few spaces away from the rickety pier. Swishing her feet in the water, she laughed as Naruto continued to play the part of a shark swimming in circles around him.

Again, she cursed the unfairness of not being able to join them, while shutting her eyes enjoying a slit breeze.

A loud call of her name filled the air then, but she was just too hot and lazy to care. She neither opened her eyes nor acknowledged the loudmouth's existence.

_Ugh, leave me alone Naruuuuuuutoooo. _Why couldn't he just continue his watery torture on the floating Uchiha?

The sudden sound of silence followed by the splash of water to her immediate right had her on guard though. The not-so-sound support under her and the love-struck fisherman's son swayed from side to side just as a pair of wet hands grasped her tightly by the ankles.

Alarmed, she fiercely kicked the intruder away from her with a look that was downright menacing. "Do it and die!" This was her last clean uniform! Her others were waving in the breeze, hanging off some tree after the stench in her bag had gotten too much to bear.

Naruto rubbed the spot on his head where her foot had connected as he floated against the waves with a toothy grin. "Aw, but I was just trying to cool you off!" He jerked a thumb in the direction behind him to his equally half naked, leisurely swimming cohort. "Look, even Sasuke-bastard came in the water."

Nata-kun, the teenage boy with the Sasuke complex next to her, giggled and beamed at the unmoved dark haired, aquatic-like creature.

Sakura ignored the twit beside her and fired back taking a twisted pleasure in her words, "If I didn't have these female parts I'd be right there beside you in a pair of boxers too." She gave Nata-kun a look of superiority before continuing. "But I _do_."

If there was anything that could be done, she would have done so by now.

"Don't you have anything Sakura-chan could wear Nata-kun?"

Sadly, there weren't _any females _in the oddly all male community and unfortunately Nata-kun posed her as some sort of distorted love rival. So asking for his help was totally out of the question.

Too bad it was out of a woman's nature to go traipsing around naked or Naruto and Sasuke be damned, she'd be in her birthday suit in a second.

With pursed lips and a sidelong glance, the sun bleached young man quibbled, "Aren't ninja supposed to always be prepared?"

Sakura openly scowled, purposely kicking water on the fool.

The heat making her excessively moody, Sakura's paper-thin sanity snapped. Not caring about dignity anymore, deciding that it didn't really matter in a small community where most of the population's eyes focused on her teammates' butts instead of her own, hopped up from her seated position.

Naruto stammered at the sight of the kunoichi in the motions of chucking off her pants. "S-S-Sakura-chan, what are you doing!"

With Nata-kun sliding away from her, she huffed angrily, "Stripping. What does it look like?"

As the piece of clothing was flung onto the earlier discarded sandals and vest, the floating log behind the wide-eyed blonde spoke up. "Let her do as she pleases Dobe. It's just as hot as it is inside then it is out here. Besides, we've seen her in her underwear before."

It was all too true; they were like family you couldn't get away from.

Sakura tied up her shirt to mimic that of Nata-kun. (Losing her pants was one thing, but she wasn't about to go running around in just her panties and bindings.)

Naruto argued back, pointing at an unimpressed looking Nata-kun and the uninterested villagers milling about on the shore ways away from them. "Yeah, but they haven't!"

The young man finally abandoning all pretenses of fishing scoffed, giving the half-naked kunoichi a disdainful once over. "Please. Why would I want to look at _that_-" His eyes lit up looking in Sasuke's oblivious direction. "When I can look at _that_?"

Sasuke smartly chose to keep quiet and swim…further away.

Naruto was too busy fuming to even notice the wave that crashed over his head. Sakura inadvertently helped him out of his predicament by finally jumping into the water.

Once under the cool embrace of the sea, she felt ten times better, improving her mood greatly. After wiping the saltwater from her eyes and brushing her hair back, she swam over to the irate blonde's side.

Her wet lashes fluttered with a smile. "Come on Naruto." She waved a hand around. "It's not like they care."

There was a loud "That's right!" from the peanut gallery still sitting on the dock. How he could live in a fishing village but not know how to swim at his age was… Well, it was something. Secretly, Sasuke was infinitely thankful for that; for it wasn't just the heat that had drove him into the water. On land, the young man stuck to him like glue.

Sakura gave Naruto's nose a playful pinch. "And neither should _you_."

Her friend thought it over. It wasn't like she was naked and he had seen her much like this millions of times whenever he barged into her house on their days off. So, in the end he let it go with a shrug.

Soon, he was rather glad she had decided to join him. After a game of splash and tag, a rather enjoyable but violent game of 'who can pants Sasuke' commenced. Needless to say, there was much cheering from the pier.

Their forth member decided to finally show himself after a game of keep away using the Uchiha's soaked underpants as bait took a turn for the worse. Their silver haired leader, who had finally slunk his way over from the darkened recesses of Nata-kun's family hovel, took up Sakura's previous position on the now damaged pier.

Sakura noted that even fear of death hadn't shooed away the bane of her existence that 'pinched hit for the other team'.

The Copy Ninja went about shedding a few layers of his own clothing as he gave a halfhearted lecture about damaging public property. He tossed his vest and dark blue shirt onto the nearby vest –leaving himself in the tight sleeveless black shirt plus mask. Working on undoing his sandals, he quipped. "You could ruin your uniform that way Sakura."

The woman in question sighed, bobbing on a rolling wave. "It's not like I'm wearing the entire set. Besides, my other ones should be dry soon."

Kakashi placed his discarded footwear next to the ones already on the dock… and froze. Eyeing the pair of pants with the kunai holder and bandages sitting on them he asked, really not wanting to know the answer. "Are these yours?"

Sakura kicked up her lower body in the water and proceeded to float on her back unconcernedly. "Yep."

Slowly tuning back, Kakashi took in the sight of bare pink painted toes, long wet legs, almost transparent white and green stripped panties and the bare droplet coated toned stomach…before sending his eye skyward in silent surprise.

Throwing his gaze off and to the left, feigning keeping an eye on Naruto and Sasuke's heated argument over who had won the watery spar, Kakashi asked rather calmly. "Do you think that's wise?"

Nata-kun shook his head with rolled eyes, having caught the entirety of the older man's reaction.

Sakura let her self be guided closer to the pier by the current as she relaxed –having not witnessed it herself. Looking down her nose at her attire or lack there of, she asked. "You mean this."

She snapped the side of her waistband thoughtfully. She was wearing her reserved underwear, having almost run out. She felt if she should be embarrassed about anything it should be that; for they were what Ino referred to as 'granny panties'.

Spreading her hands out, liking the way the water flowed through her fingers, she replied simply. "No one cares."

Kakashi wasn't blind. He knew the personal preference of the kid and the rest of the men in the village. He had stopped himself from running a lightening fist through more than one man whose hand had _accidentally_ brushed a cheek –and not either of the ones on his face mind you.

Nata-kun smirked, giving a sidelong glance to the man who refused to look at the soaking female. Under his breath he muttered amusedly, "Seems someone does."

Taking that as his queue, the older shinobi began to gather his things feeling ill at ease.

Turning away from the half-naked, floating kunoichi, Kakashi gave his departing words. "Don't let those two get too wild."

Sakura waved not looking at him as wave after wave took her further out to sea, closer to the two now standing on top of the water engaged in yet another fight. "Sure, sure."

_Yeah right, like I'm going to step in between those two. _

Kakashi shook his head walking back toward the shore on the rickety wooden structure.

_Naruto and Sasuke don't mind. It's fine._

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**TBC **


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